Yesterday, saw the arrival of the largest fabric order I’ve ever placed! So huge was this parcel, that my colleague assumed it was for a different department. But I recognised the soft corners of brown paper bearing fabric and went over to rescue this behemoth.

You may remember me being tempted by some poly mix at the recent Textile Forum I blogged about here. There was a minimum 10-metre order. Fortunately, two Sewists came to my rescue. Elizabeth from SEWN and a new friend, Fay, offered to come in on the buy with me. I bit their hands off. Yes, please!

Out of the ten metres, I’ve bagged six metres for Gertie’s Starlet Suit, even though realistically I won’t be able to start on this until June earliest.

In the meantime, I’m sending out two metres each to my lovely mates Elizabeth and Fay. Triple Score!

But first, I had to get that brown paper parcel home on the tube. A bit of crochet and ‘South Pacific’ on my iPod kept me amused…

Gotta Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair!

Once home, I tore open the package:

And now all I need to do is cut up our shares, and send parcels on their happy way.

What I absolutely love about the process of sharing an order is the civilised way in which the three of us arrived at a consensus agreement on which colour we’d collectively order. I particularly relish the fact that this took me out of my comfort zone. Left to my own devices, it would have been red all the way. But a solid red suit? Maybe… You have to be in the mood for that statement. Teal is an equally strong colour. All I had to do was hold the (respectably heavy!) bolt to my throat, to know that I could also work this colour.

Thank you, ladies! I think this is called a slam dunk.

What about you? Have you ever shared an order or would you consider it?

24 Responses to Triple Score!

It’s never even occurred to me to share an order but not you’ve planted the seed…. what a great idea! I’ve been pining over some polka dot lining fabric that’s only available in bulk and I can immediately reel off three or four sewists who wouldn’t mind sharing. Oooh, now I’m excited!
Nice stripy tights by the way. x

Jane, I’m a sucker for polka dots, I’m sure I could be tempted to join you. I already have a bit of polka dot lining in my stash but it’s so special that no project has thus far been deemed worthy, so some more would be great!

Wow, Pandora’s polka dot box indeed! Ladies, I’ll send you all an e-mail with the link and you can let me know if you’re still interested. I think Roobeedoo’s point is good and I’ll definitely be ordering samples. Now we just have to have a giant fight/discussion about which colour way to go with! x

Oh, look, I was trying to resist and now I can’t any more! Can you include me in the email, Jane? Joanne, after your recent blog post – this is the first blog post I’ve written where I’ve persuaded MYSELF (rather than other people) to buy something!

It seems a lovely color! well done. Like you I am drawn to bold colors sometimes…and need to refrain myself. As you say depending on the garment a color may be more appropriate than another depending on your style (of course!). You need to picture yourself wearing the finished garment out on the street… just that thought makes me veer towards more ‘comfortable’ colors. I only ever made a shared order for drafting paper…never for fabric.

Let’s hear it for the polkadots! My (teenage) son told me only a couple of days ago that polkadots were a bit out of fashion or at least that he didn’t see them very often. Clearly we’re in the wrong part of the world. All the same, I won’t join the party on that lining. The notion of sharing orders is one I’ve adopted for other things (books, for instance, where sharing an order made its total sufficient for free postage), so I imagine it would work very well for fabric. Yep, the blogosphere is a great place for sharing all sorts of things.

I would totally do this. Due to the small amount of dressmaking fabric available to us thats in the uk and doesn’t have to be shipped from elsewhere I’ve also been thinking about the fabric club idea. Theres a couple like Chrysalis and Stone fabrics (which I know you love Karen) once I’ve got some spare cash I think i’ll sign up to a couple of them! x

SUCH a good idea! As long as you know it is a good quality product – imagine how embarrassing it would be if you offered to share and it turned out to be hideous / flawed. Definitely a case for requesting a sample in advance!

Only time I’ve shared an order was for choir uniforms in the 1970s — imagine 200 spotty teenaged girls, of all shapes, weights, races, and standards of personal hygiene, wearing the same dark green polyester double-knit maxi dress at the same time. (Tanit-Isis has the pattern — she made hers without the Italian collar.) That experience, multiplied by six years, plus roughly the same experience for four years at college, has scarred me for sharing fabric cuts.

Oooh Karen – I am really excited!! It looks so great in the photo, I cannot wait to actually touch it : ) I think a fabric club would be great but I would have no self control at all! Your starlet suit will be amazing in that colour and I do think that colour will suit you. F x